Effect of AM fungi on the growth and powdery mildew development of Astragalus sinicus L. under water stress

Panpan Shang; Rongchun Zheng; Yingde Li; Shang Han; Shan Tang; Ji Wu; Tingyu Duan

doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.109422

Effect of AM fungi on the growth and powdery mildew development of Astragalus sinicus L. under water stress

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2024 Dec 18:219:109422. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.109422. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Panpan Shang¹, Rongchun Zheng¹, Yingde Li¹, Shang Han², Shan Tang², Ji Wu³, Tingyu Duan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou, 730020, China; College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China; Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, Gansu Tech Innovation Centre of Western China Grassland Industry, China.
² Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Nutrient Cycling, Resources & Environment, Hefei, 230031, China.
³ Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Nutrient Cycling, Resources & Environment, Hefei, 230031, China. Electronic address: wujiahtfs@126.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou, 730020, China; College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China; Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, Gansu Tech Innovation Centre of Western China Grassland Industry, China. Electronic address: duanty@lzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39718283
DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.109422

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are widely existing soil microorganisms that form symbiotic relationships with most terrestrial plants. They are important for enhancing adversity resistance, including resistance to disease and water stresses. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether the benefits can be maintained in regulating the occurrence of plant diseases under drought, flooding stress and during water restoration. In this study, we investigated the effect of AM fungus (Glomus versiforme) on the development of powdery mildew in Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus) under drought, flooding, and water recovery. The results showed that AM fungal symbiosis promoted the growth of Chinese milk vetch under water stress conditions. It increased the accumulation of ethylene (ET) and jasmonic acid (JA), enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and decreased the accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) obtained from transcriptome sequencing under each stress were subjected to weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and a total of 12 gene co-expression modules were obtained. The analysis of the relationship between the co-expressed genes in the 12 modules and plant physiological traits showed that the magent, grey60 and darkturquoise modules were significantly associated with ET, SA, JA, ABA, plant defence enzyme activities, malondialdehyde (MDA) and H₂O₂ content. Water stress and disease were related with the up-regulated expression of genes in the flavonoid biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation, plant hormone signal transduction and plant-pathogen interaction pathways. Importantly, inoculation with AM fungus reduced the incidence of powdery mildew under drought stress by 16.54%. In summary, the results of this study showed that inoculation with AM had a positive effect on powdery mildew development tolerance in Chinese milk vetch under drought and flooding stresses and stress recovery. This provides a good basis for field management and sustainable growth of green manure crop Chinese milk vetch.

Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Astragalus sinicus; Powdery mildew; WGCNA; Water stress.